Suryakumar Yadav expressing solidarity with the victims of Pahalgam terror attack sparked an unending controversy off the field. The gesture led to the ICC imposing a 30% fine on the Indian T20I skipper, following a complaint from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Now, former India cricketer Atul Wassan has added fuel to the debate, suggesting that Suryakumar may have been “obliged” to make the statement.
Speaking to NDTV ahead of the much-anticipated India-Pakistan final in Dubai, Wassan argued that the remark appeared more like “tokenism” than a spontaneous show of emotion. He clarified, however, that this did not undermine Suryakumar’s patriotism.
“In India, if I say that the match should continue because the government has allowed it, everybody
is coming after me, but that doesn’t make me less of a patriot. If I don’t mention Pahalgam, that doesn’t make me less of a patriot. I am against these optics and tokenism,” Wassan told NDTV.
“If Suryakumar hadn’t said it, he would still be a patriot, because it’s given that we are all there. But this is the kind of eyeballs and tokenism that people expected, and it acted like a balm, and lapped it up. But he was obliged to say it, just like they were obliged to do that,” he added.
Earlier this week, the PCB filed a complaint with the ICC, alleging that Suryakumar Yadav’s comments after India’s September 14 win over Pakistan breached the code prohibiting political messaging. The PCB even urged a Level 4 sanction, the most serious under the ICC Code of Conduct.
Citing precedent, they pointed to Usman Khawaja being barred from wearing shoes with “Freedom is a human right” during protests over Israel’s war in Gaza. Suryakumar pleaded not guilty, but ICC match referee Richie Richardson rejected his defense and imposed a fine. The BCCI has since appealed the ruling.
